# Health Risk of Subaru Oil Leaks? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036 "2019-08-05T13:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Renegade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Renegade](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Renegade)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/21 "2019-08-06T23:37:09Z")
> [@bing](#): > > True. Pick up a product in the store, even extension cords, and it will have the standard warning that it contains a substance known to cause cancer per the California proposition. So after a while it is just ho hum, it’s all meaningless. Life causes cancer. Everyone will get it if you live long enough. I am like you that it is so bad you become immune to looking at IT, what suppised me was I just got home from the store after getting dog food I just had to look IT IS NOT ON DOG FOOD; ---
**Author:** ![Marnet](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/marnet/32/41_2.png) [@Marnet](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Marnet)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 2:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/22 "2019-08-07T02:16:03Z")
@ok4450 I’d wondered why you had been mostly absent for quite awhile. Glad you are still with us, sir. And, again, my condolences on the loss of your wife. You’ve had a damned rough time. Hope you will hang around with us here on the forum quite awhile longer. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/23 "2019-08-07T02:37:05Z")
Marnet, yes that’s why I’ve been in and out a bit over the past year+. As tough as the mechanic business is the toughest thing I ever had to do in my life was have the plug pulled on my wife after 3 weeks in ICU. Considering her many issues it’s for the best but no less painful. Forty five years together. I don’t know how she put up with me that long. In all of those years she never uttered a curse word to me. The same can’t be said for me as I’m kind of volatile. It seems that ever since she passed I’ve lost interest in turning wrenches and that’s something I thought would never, ever happen in a million years. Lost interest in my guitars and basses and it’s only been in the past couple of weeks I’ve been picking them up again. My stringed tranquilizers as I call them… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marnet](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/marnet/32/41_2.png) [@Marnet](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Marnet)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 5:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/24 "2019-08-07T05:01:30Z")
@ok4450 Grief affects each individual in very personal ways. Your emotional landscape has changed. After my mom died, my dad never again had the passion for his work he’d had. He kept going out of a sense of duty but his purpose was gone which had always been to provide for her and our family. We kids were grown, Mom was gone, and his purpose was gone after fifty-one years. Journey through your grief at your own pace OK, in your own time and way. Find renewed interest or not in those things which somehow no longer seem important, according to your particular gradual adjustments to the difficult and sad changes in your life. Turning wrenches isn’t who you are. It is what has been one of your major interests, your livelihood, even one of your entertainments. It is a large part of you but isn’t what wholely defines you. So yes, it must be unsettling to find yourself without that lifelong level of interest now. Give yourself time. It’s okay, sir, whether or not your interest in turning wrenches returns because either way you will still be you. May God bless you and your family with comfort, care, guidance, and grace. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/25 "2019-08-07T14:16:58Z")
Thank you for your kind words but I’m about 98% sure I’m done. The past weekend I even talked with my son about giving him all of my tools except a tote box with some basics. Three roll arounds and one top chest plus extras including a metal lathe. I’m thinking about just selling the lathe and tooling and being done with it. The irritants are that I’m part way through restoration of my 2 Harleys back to bone stock and 3/4 of the way through a hot rod project. Also a home built guitar that is 90% done. The wind has just gone out of my sails and I don’t see it coming back. Too many projects and not enough time or enthusiasm left. On top of all of that,I’ve had a minor (?) issue with skin cancer. Four surgeries, soon to be 7 biopsies, and 8 nitrogen treatments in the past 9 months. Life’s a hoot, huh? In all seriousness, I do have the Alfred E. Neuman attitude; “What - me worry?”. 😄 ☀ ---
**Author:** ![andyw77\_155343](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@andyw77\_155343](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andyw77_155343)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/26 "2019-08-10T22:02:09Z")
I’ve owned 4 Subarus since 2001 and we gave the first and second a fair amount of miles; the two we have now are relatively low mileage so far. We have not had a head gasket problem or any oil leaks. I have a pretty sensitive nose and have never smelled oil in the cabin. Our son, now 34, spent a lot of time in our cars and is healthy with a good education and career. I have not heard about this “problem” before. I’d say the warning you got was hooey. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/27 "2019-08-12T03:04:51Z")
I can’t imagine losing my wife. We will have been married 62 years this fall an I hope I die before she does. A lot of our friends have lost a spouse and the best advice is don’t make any other major life changes for al least a year. A woman across the street from us lost her husband almost a year an a half ago and she is just now coming out of her shell. She would go in her house if any neighbors would come outside while she was out so she would not have to talk to anyone. Last week I heard her talking to a neighbor and laughing. It was good to hear. We moved into our housed on the same day in August 51 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Luke314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Luke314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Luke314)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/28 "2019-08-16T13:36:20Z")
Not oil leaks, but pollution in general has been linked to deaths - [https://www.bbc.com/news/health-41678533](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-41678533) among many other studies. The output of gasoline cars is so toxic that just leaving one on in an enclosed area has been known to cause accidental deaths overnight - [https://www.autoevolution.com/news/man-dies-of-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-after-leaving-the-car-running-overnight-131517.html](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/man-dies-of-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-after-leaving-the-car-running-overnight-131517.html) So while I wouldn’t recommend _not ever getting_ a Subaru, you should _definitely_ opt for the bicycle when you reasonably can for short trips. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/29 "2019-08-16T13:39:22Z")
> [@Luke314](#): > > The output of gasoline cars is so toxic that just leaving one on in an enclosed area has been known to cause accidental deaths overnight - Not exactly new earth shattering news . ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/30 "2019-08-16T16:06:06Z")
> [@Luke314](#): > > The output of gasoline cars is so toxic that just leaving one on in an enclosed area has been known to cause accidental deaths overnight Yes, but that’s true of any combustion source that gives off carbon monoxide, like natural gas furnaces. > [@Luke314](#): > > So while I wouldn’t recommend _not ever getting_ a Subaru, you should _definitely_ opt for the bicycle when you reasonably can for short trips. The logic doesn’t follow, because you presumably aren’t going on short trips in your Subaru while remaining in your living room. In other words, the car’s outside, you’ll be fine. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/31 "2019-08-16T22:09:26Z")
I guess the idea is don’t leave your car running inside the house or garage. Hook a dog leash on the key or something if you are forgetful. I suppose I could have taken my bike to get a load of steel today but really I’d still be pedaling the thing and they would have been closed by then. Then the long ride home with a couple hundred pounds of ten foot lengths of steel on my shoulder. Tons of traffic going north and south too, wondering where they are all going. It’s a mobile society now. Never even saw one horse. But if I had a horse, I sure wouldn’t let it in the garage. ---
**Author:** ![Luke314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Luke314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Luke314)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/32 "2019-08-19T02:13:23Z")
Yes but it’s worth recalling as a majority of Americans are apt to go to places even in town 1-2 miles away, by car, making something commonplace often makes it seem safer than it is, can make it easy to disregard safety. ---
**Author:** ![Luke314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Luke314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Luke314)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/33 "2019-08-19T02:16:34Z")
If _everyone_ left their car going _outside_, that would still result in many more deaths from pollution related causes. If you can, bike, if _too far_ or not feasible, then drive. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/34 "2019-08-19T02:52:52Z")
I have several friends that have been severely injured riding bikes, one killed. Hardly harmless. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/35 "2019-08-19T04:26:30Z")
A local teacher/football coach was killed here not long while bicycling. Someone texting while driving of course. If people turned out on bicycles in droves in city driving the bicycle fatality rate is going to go up; a lot. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/36 "2019-08-19T12:29:51Z")
> [@ok4450](#): > > If people turned out on bicycles in droves in city driving the bicycle fatality rate is going to go up; a lot. In NYC, despite the presence of bike lanes on many streets, there are typically 3 to 5 cyclists killed weekly by inattentive drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Luke314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Luke314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Luke314)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036/37 "2019-09-27T03:55:49Z")
…or fatalities could go down naturally with more bicyclists. Are you counting in the reduced risk of death from doing regular exercise each morning/afternoon commute? [http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/exercise/art3866.html](http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/exercise/art3866.html) Biking to store/work/anywhere a few miles a way is one sure way to make sure you at least get a minimal healthy workout on a daily or at least weekly basis. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/health-risk-of-subaru-oil-leaks/146036.md?page=1)